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Mackenna Tolfa grew up in Green Bay with a blue sparkle drum kit called “The Rock Star.” Decades later, she’s touring North America as the first featured female Rockstar character in Blue Man Group’s history. The name on the kit was foreshadowing nobody knew about until recently — including the Blue Man marketing team.

In this episode, we dig into the full journey: from a family tradition built around an uncle with an accordion, to classical percussion study, to pit playing Broadway shows, to landing one of the most unique drumming roles in live entertainment.

Here’s some of what we covered:

* How growing up watching Neil Peart and Phil Collins shaped her musical identity from the start

* Why she started on classical piano — and what that gave her as a percussionist

* The pivot from Broadway pit playing to the Blue Man Group world tour, and what each world taught her about the other

* The wild audition story — filmed at 115 degrees in a back room in Spain with a rented kit, two hours to record and send it back, and over 100 applicants in the original pool

* Being flown to New York for the final callback and walking in to find the audition was nothing like what she’d spent two months preparing for

* What it means to play a character when the character is essentially just you

* Her time subbing on the Book of Mormon national tour — and what it was like watching audience reactions city to city

* How a fun COVID project learning Ableton ended up being crucial to landing the Blue Man gig

* A Cirque du Soleil invite-only audition in London that came directly from a YouTube video she posted just for fun

* Her upcoming solo project (a band called Lemon) and her work as arranger and orchestrator on the new musical Dust Bowl Radio Hour

* Why she tells every student: don’t wait for the degree to start networking

The advice she gave at the end of this episode is the kind of thing that takes most people years to figure out. Start the relationships now. Know your role. Understand that every gig — pit, stage, session, tour — is drumming, but the approach is completely different.

If this conversation resonated with you, the roadmap for building a career in theater music — the relationships, the mindset, the financial reality — is laid out in my book Broadway Bound and Beyond.

Get your copy at broadwayboundbook.com

Clayton Craddock is the drummer for Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. He is also the founder of Broadway Drumming 101 and the author of Broadway Bound and Beyond: A Musician’s Guide to Building a Theater Career.

His Broadway credits include Memphis, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Ain’t Too Proud, and Cats: The Jellicle Ball, with additional credits spanning tick, tick…BOOM!, The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical, and subbing on Rent, Motown, Evita, Avenue Q, and the Hadestown tour.

Clayton has appeared on The View, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, and the Tony Awards. He has performed with artists ranging from Chuck Berry and Ben E. King to Kristin Chenoweth and Norm Lewis.

www.claytoncraddock.com